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Processes in the food and beverage industry.

Within the quick service sector of the food and beverage industry, their seems to be two prevailing processes when it comes to taking a customer’s order, filling that order, and accepting payment. The order of these steps can change the way a customer perceives a restaurant and can influence revenue directly.

The most common version of this process includes recording the customer’s order, accepting payment, then filling the order. This process can be seen in many major fast food chains and seems to be the most efficient way to conduct this process however there are other options that can change the tone of the order taking process entirely.

Another, slightly less popular method for this process is to first take the customer’s order, then fill the order, then accept payment at the end of the process. This is more useful in situations where an order requires a lot of customization and options that do not influence the price of a product. This can also lead to less perceived waiting time because the customer is constantly engaged in the food making process thus, making the time seem to pass more quickly.

Each of these methods has their strengths and weaknesses in certain situations which are why there is no single best method for this process. The main tradeoff seems to be in the amount of perceived waiting time versus the actual waiting time where the first method usually has less actual waiting time and the second method usually has less perceived waiting time.